the Sawatzky Nomad

out with the old

2009-09-07T09:41:00.002-06:00

I've finally done it. I found a new template and created a new blog. This one will no longer be updated so check out our new blogspot and update your bookmarks and RSS feeds! It's a new chapter!

http://capitalsawatzkys.blogspot.com/

don't give up on us yet...

2009-08-19T16:59:00.002-06:00

Hi there,

Just a quick note to say that this has been a very busy summer and I have so many challenging issues to write about. I'm thinking that I'm going to start a new blog and then once it's up and running I'll post 2 -3 times a week. Maybe I'm optimistic...but it's what I would like to do. It will be challenging issues and happenings in our lives, including the cute things the kids do. What do you think. I'm thinking new blog, because I want a new 'skin' but ours is too old to update the format. (or I'm too computer iliterate to know how to do that...) What do you guys think....do we have any readers left?

yard fun

2009-07-24T23:19:00.007-06:00

Riding bikes on the 'patio' in the back yard. I think they rode almost all day.

We finally set-up the pool, now that it's scorching outside. Nadia and Dom loved it, but Colin was unsure.

Popsicles on the front step...watching the neighbours landscapers.

Okay, so we're busy, but I feel like I'm mostly refereeing. We mostly stay at home and play. In the back, in the front, on the street and in the park across the road. It's fun, but my days get eaten up and I don't accomplish much. For the summer we have an extra little one. He keeps the kids busy, but of course it adds another dimension.

yard renos

2009-07-20T21:25:00.002-06:00

Our yard was pretty much immaculate when we moved in, other than the dead grass in need of water. But we needed to make it a little more fun. So one Saturday morning Tim was outside and said, "Let's build a sandbox". We talked about where and the design and construction, and then I got busy...with kids and stuff. Before I knew it he was off to the lumber yard to check things out. About 5 hours later this is what we had. Tim is an amazing guy. Think it through and build it. And the kids love it. I was so pleased that we were even able to get the sand delivered that day. The kids love it and so do we, it's so great to see them enjoy the yard. (in case you're wondering it's about 8'x8' and holds a yard of sand.)

Where to begin...

2009-07-15T23:40:00.006-06:00

So there's a lot of updating that needs to happen. But I guess I better just give you the highlights otherwise it will be too daunting and I'll never get to it. So we moved! It was very smooth and we had the VERY best group of guys helping us. They even put together our dining room table, and moved out all our 'acquired furniture'.

The kids fell in love with the house and yard right away. And of course we love it too. Nadia decided one day that she should climb the apple tree. But, she's too small, so she asked for some help. So Daddy lifted her high into the branches. And Colin had to follow and try it too.

A few days after we moved in, it was Colin's 2nd Birthday. He had fun unwrapping his new toys and he especially loves the bubble maker lawn mower. Below Daddy and Colin are playing with his new Lego fire truck.

Well, sorry it's taken for ever to post again. I'm back at it now and I'm sure we'll have a steady stream of posts after this. So check back in a few days...

desserts, presents and other things...

2009-06-14T21:01:00.005-06:00

We bought some homemade apple pie and had it with ice cream. Colin ate his whole piece and then decided he should get the last bit with his tongue. I think our bird is jealous in the background.

Nadia made a headset out of a purple pipe cleaner. She managed to bend it all into the right shape. And then stood on the stool to sing and pose.

HIDE...MONSTER!

Colin was insistent that he ride Nadia's bike, so we finally bought him his own. I thought he's a little young, but he just loves getting on there to try. Maybe he'll be able to make it go by the end of the summer.

the last while

2009-05-31T14:35:00.003-06:00

We've been so busy, but I'm finally sitting down to update. It's been such a whirlwind, between mortgage paperwork, church stuff and visiting. So this will probably be more of a ramble than anything else.

Well, to start with, all the conditions are off our house, so now we are just waiting to move in and sign the last papers. Our possession date is June 26th! The current owner is such a great man. He let us come yesterday and plant the veggie garden and then he even took us out for lunch. Then we went back to the house and he asked if we wanted all his furniture, cheap like borscht. We thought it would be nice to buy his spare room bed and the swing outside. He offered us about half the furniture in his house for $300. And then he kept adding things as we went. So we've just acquired a lot of furniture. Anyone need anything?

Things are humming along at church. We have at least 1 new family come every Sunday. Until recently, no one ever came back. It's very cool to see that people are coming back and in general everyone is very excited about where we're headed. God is creating a wave and we're trying our best to ride it. Which makes for busy weeks and crazy weekends, but we love the pace here and are energized by it all.

The kids are warming up to everyone at church and it's so great to see them relax and be themselves. Nadia has many little friends all over the city and Colin is less clingy and even enjoys the toddler room at church. Even now, Nadia has a friend over and they are decorating for her dolls birthday. They are very cute.

I haven't been taking many pictures lately, so this 1 will have to do. Nadia is into having picnics, with real food. And Colin loves food, so they play nicely together.

purple potty

2009-05-20T21:42:00.003-06:00

We've been in Edmonton for about 3 weeks and we've been looking for a house to purchase. We've seen about 10 houses, and finally found 1 that has great location, solid structure and everything we were looking for...well, almost everything.

On Tuesday Tim's parents came for a visit from SK, and we hung out in the morning. There were a few houses we wanted to see but thought they've been on the market for a while so we probably don't need to see them right away. But we asked if Harv and Sharon wanted to see a few houses in the afternoon. I was shocked when they both just about jumped out of their seats with excitement. We saw 2 that day. The next morning we made an offer on 1 and by noon the owner had accepted our offer. It kind of happened about that quick. And we had to really laugh when the owner insisted that we have the shuffle board that was downstairs. So Tuesday we made the offer, Wednesday, today, we had the home inspection, and tomorrow we will send the last of the mortgage documents away. I can't even believe how fast God has worked this out.

So, you're probably wondering about the house. It's a 1972, 1200 square foot bungalow with a fully finished basement that includes a spare room and bathroom. The upstairs has 3 bedrooms, an ensuite off the master bedroom and vaulted ceilings in the living and dining room. Also, Tim gets his 2 car garage, I get perennial flower beds, a veggie garden and we all get to live across from a small grassy park. It all sounds perfect....accept the purple potty. When Nadia saw it she yelled out with laughter, "A purple potty, I want this bedroom!"

So we're really excited and scrambling to get the last things finished up. Although the house is mint 70's, and I do mean mint...we will have a lot of fun renovating. Tim's already planned out the new kitchen with the Ikea kitchen planner.

getting sorted in Edmonton

2009-05-11T13:46:00.010-06:00

Nadia has been wanting a princess fish tank, so Tim and I decided that once we were mostly settled we would surprise her with one. So we told her that we needed to go to the mall, but it was a surprise why. I thought she was going to burst...she's a need to know kind of girl. We went to the pet store and looked around. When we got close to the tanks we asked her if she would like to pick out her very own fish tank. She was in disbelief at first. Once she established that we were serious. The jumping for joy started. It was a lot of fun. Oh...and she named them cherry and cotton candy.

Nadia loves to set up the ipod player in her room so that she can dance with her fish. I asked if they dance with her and she said they only came out once. She's such a mom.

Colin's first time watching a movie on the ipod. He's very absorbed.

If I lay down on the sofa, Colin is always 1 second behind and he has to be under the blanket too.

Nadia's night cap! She even went to sleep with it on.

Nadia's lego version of Daddy.

We have moved so many times and have always bought 'get us by' kind of furniture. So I guess Tim had it with the desk, because it was put in storage, never to be reconstructed in our home again. I don't blame him, it's done. But in the mean time, I have no place for the desktop. Finally I got tired of just using the laptop in the evening and set up the desktop on a box. So here is my desk. I noticed later that it says "This box is designed for multiple uses"! I am hunting for a desk though, because sitting on the floor is just not as comfy as a desk and chair.

found my cable...

2009-05-11T13:19:00.009-06:00

I finally found my camera cable...so now I can download and post pictures. These are still from before we moved, but I wanted to post them. Here is the rock pathway I put into our yard last summer. And I was happy when it actually did it's job in the spring. Rocks instead of mud in that area. ...or a plank which was there. I collected all those rocks from around our yard.

Nadia's friend Keziah!

My little workers. They both wanted to clean. For some reason they think my Norwex clothes are so cool and special.
Moving day! It was so relaxing that I was anxious. I've never had every single thing packed and ready before the guys showed up. This was by far the best move we've done. They were taking a supper break here. I made hamburgers for them, but we ran out of propane on the seconds, thankfully our neighbours let me use their BBQ to finish.

In our basement suite in Edmonton. Somehow our kitchen table chairs went into the storage garage and Tim couldn't even dig them out they were so buried. So the kids sat on the floor, Nadia used a stool as a table, and we sat on the sofas for the first few day. Then we took the opportunity to get new kitchen chairs. Now we finally have 4 matching chairs, which will also match the dining room set. I can't even believe we finally have some really great furniture.

Setting up Nadia's bed. Colin just adores Tim.

playing around under the "table"

we've landed

2009-05-02T10:26:00.005-06:00

This has been a crazy week or so. Last Saturday Mom & Dad Sawatzky took the kids for a few days so that we could finish packing and load the truck. I can't believe that we got a 26 foot truck and filled it to the brim. (Thanks to Mom & Dad who gave us most of their reno tools...) We had tons of help loading and cleaning and we're off to Martensville Monday night. It was so good to see the kids again, even if they were sound asleep.

The next morning we were off to Edmonton. Tim drove the massive truck and I drove our car with the kids. I'm not a long distance driver, especially with kids in the back. So I prayed about that a lot. God was very good and kept me awake via music and podcasts. And the kids were super awesome. Colin napped before lunch and Nadia even napped after lunch. We even nearly made it without any movies. I think Nadia watched a veggie movie or 2 just before we found our new place in Edmonton. I praise God for that too.

Our cell phone wasn't ringing during the drive, so the next day I called our real estate agent to see how the previous days showing went. Before I could ask, he told me he had an offer. It was a little less than we were hoping for, but the only condition was financing. The buyers had no house to sell and they didn't want a house inspection. We had 4 hours to accept or reject the offer. Seeing we are in a tight market in Birch Hills, with about 10 other houses in our price range in a town of 1000. We decided to take it and have it off our plate. It still doesn't feel real. Maybe it will feel more real when we get the call that the condition is off. But, none the less, we praise God for selling it.

God has worked everything out for us. It's all been at the very last minute, but the outcome has been better than we prayed for. I am continually amazed at how God provides for us in mighty ways. I also have to tell you that our new landlords are amazing people who have literally bent over backwards to help us. I am so grateful for them and for this place.

(pictures will come soon...)

I need your creativity!

2009-04-23T21:30:00.002-06:00

Hi Everyone!

We're moving in 4 days and I'm wanting to change email to gmail. This time I really want a fun, creative email address. Tim's new one is tim-the-pastor, which I thought was a really good one. So what can you come up with for me? There's an Ikea prize in it for you :) Well, I WILL be going to Ikea shortly after we get there.

a place to crash

2009-04-21T21:01:00.002-06:00

I'm completely exhausted from sorting and packing so I thought I'd sit down and update you all about our lives. We move in 6 days and yesterday we were still scrambling for a rental place. We've been trying to book appointments for our contact people in Edmonton, but they've all fallen through. We finally know why. Yesterday morning we got an email from our administrative assistant at church, Castle Downs, asking if we would be interested in a basement suite her parents have. It's 3 bedrooms, newly renovated and about a 5 minute drive to the church. I made a call, she emailed some photos, I called some more and it was a sealed deal! I can't believe how easy it was....Thank you God.

So we have a place to live when we move on Monday. I don't think we've ever made a move where we planned the move date and booked the U-Haul before we had an address. Now we just need to sell our house. We've shown it 3 times in the last few days. But still no offers yet. We called a real estate agent who is coming to see the house tomorrow. So soon it will be out of our hands. Honestly, it's a relief. It's so stressful to have your house ripped apart for packing and then get a call on the house. And usually people want to see it with in a few hours.

Does anyone have a story about how God sold your house in a mighty way?

since we've been home

2009-04-18T14:03:00.004-06:00

Since we've been home we've realized that we only have, or had, 12 days to pack and move. We have not secured a rental unit and haven't started packing. So the crunch is on. We are madly trying to do both and really praying God brings this together soon.
Since Tim has been done work and we've been sleeping in, Nadia and Colin have been playing before we get out of bed. Nadia dumps all her stuffed animals, and Colin's, plus all his toys and books into his crib. This picture doesn't do the pile justice.

Nadia and Colin watching a movie from their sofa house.

Easter in Edmonton

2009-04-18T13:27:00.005-06:00

We went to Edmonton for a visit at Easter. We got to stay with our board chair and family. They really go all out for Easter. They planned and had 3 seperate Easter hunts. One for the little kids, one for the big kids and one for the adults. I think the adult hunt took about 2-3 hours.
And the gifts....wow. We were very overwhelmed how the gifts just kept coming. Thank you everyone. Nadia especially loves her new porcelain doll.
While the adults were hunting, there were crafts for the kids. They coloured and used glitter glue to decorate the wooden eggs.
Colin went nuts over the bubbles. He LOVES them. Especially to chase them.
The kids loved to blow this steam maker bird bath type ornament. Colin is making a funny face for his newest girl friend. :)

We went to church on Sunday and Tim got to lead music and preach. The church usually has about 70-80 people and we had 112! We were so excited and there is such a buzz. God is doing great things and we can't wait to get there and ride the wave.

outside...finally

2009-04-09T21:35:00.006-06:00

It was finally warm enough to go outside this week. So I found some rubber boots and out we ventured. Nadia got this new umbrella in BC. We don't really get rain in SK, so the next best thing is to stand under the melting snow drip from the roof.
We were getting a little bored, just walking around the small patch of grass we have exposed, so I pulled out some of the sandbox toys. And the kids went wild shoveling snow into their buckets.
Yesterday was almost hot on our deck. There was no wind and no bugs. The perfect weather for a picnic. It was so cute to watch them, especially Colin, who copied every thing Nadia did. Now Nadia asks to have a picnic for every meal.
And a little play-doh fun. Nadia made this cake for me. It's a purple circle with stars all the way around. She spent a very long time making those. My sweeties, I love them so much.

vacation

2009-04-07T22:26:00.013-06:00

We went to BC to visit my parents and Grand parents. They were generous enough to pay our way and rent us a car. We did some hanging out and then some power shopping. But the high light for the kids was the Vancouver Aquarium. It really is a fabulous place. We must have spent about 5 hours there. (Juanita the turtle picture is for you.) And today Colin learned to say turtle. I think it's so cute when he perfectly pronounces words with his little high voice.
Nadia especially loved the West Coast area where she could climb on the 'rocks' in front of the display tanks.

2 of my 3 sweeties.

After climbing on the 'rocks' I am happy to report that they were interested in checking out the tanks too.
They have a new jelly fish and frog section, which display the jelly fish so well.

And the kids section at the end of the indoor exhibits was redone and very cool. We had to pry the kids out of there.

How did Opa escape this photo?

Outside we saw the beluga, dolphin and raptor shows. Here is the bald eagle from the raptor show. I think he was trying to munch the trainers microphone. I had no idea just how big those birds are. It was a really cool show. One at a time they brought out birds of prey and they swooped down and all around. The one trainer was only about 10 feet from where we were standing, so we got a really good look at the birds. There was also a turkey vulture and a red tailed hawk.
My Grandma and Grandpa. Such sweeties, showering Nadia with gifts and candy every time she walked in to their place.
And even though it was a short trip, we got to see great Oma too. And at 91 she even prepared a delicious supper for us, fancy deserts and all.

before vacation

2009-04-06T22:56:00.002-06:00

The night before we left on vacation to BC I took Nadia to the Doodlebops concert. I have to say that I was very impressed at the show. They were very hard to photograph because they are always singing and dancing.

Nadia was quite taken by the whole thing. She was in awe for the first bit and then really started to get into it near the end. They had 3 other dancers on stage, for the songs and shortly after they came out, Nadia told me that "the other 3 should get off the stage because it's better when it's just the Doodlebops". Although I can see why they had the extra dancers. I think Dee Dee was mostly just trying keep that wig from falling off. I'm sure that would be quiet a tragedy at a show full of 2-5 year olds.

news...finally

2009-04-04T23:02:00.005-06:00

I'm so sorry that I keep forgetting to post about Edmonton. It's been a very busy few weeks, between Langley and Saskatoon. For those who are awaiting the news...here it is. Castle Downs Baptist Church in Edmonton asked us to come for a meet and greet weekend, or pre-candidating. So we took the whole family and it was very much like candidating. Actually, I'm not sure what we would have done different to candidate. The board felt overwhelmingly that we were a great fit for the church and wanted to just vote to have us come. So they did and the vote was an excited and unanimous yes. They felt so strongly that this was God's will that they didn't need us to come back to officially candidate, so they proposed to the congregation that they vote for us to come. A few weeks later they had the congregational vote and it was another unanimous yes. There was even cheering we're told. So we are very excited about starting this next chapter of our lives.

As I type, Tim is working on his sermon for the Easter weekend when we'll be there visiting. He officially starts May 1st, so we have about a month to pack and move. About that. We are still waiting for an offer on our house. And we need wisdom about what to do. Wait longer or just find a temporary rental and pay a deposit now. We need your prayers about that.

We do praise God for selling our second car today. God never works the way we plan, but he continues to take care of our finances and we are truly grateful for that.

Stay tuned...vacation photos will appear soon.

no

2009-03-20T16:23:00.007-06:00

Colin calls snow, no! We had a blizzard here last week and it filled all the open areas, where we walk, with snow. Tim has been shoveling it into the wheel barrel and hauling it to the front of the yard, so we can have the bobcat come and take it up the hill. If only we could do the same for the whole yard. I'm alway impatient this time of year. I just want to see my flowerbeds.

Like father, like son...smiley and easy going.

Colin goes around the house fixing things. He has a wrench here, but usually he's randomly hammering things. Especially if he sees a nail, it has to be hammered at max strength and force.
Nadia is really into colouring these past few days. She has spent many hours quietly colouring. And that in itself is amazing. This is a girl who NEEDS to verbalize EVERYTHING.

new stuff

2009-03-05T20:34:00.003-06:00

Okay, I couldn't get a photo of Nadia and her new clock before the batteries died, but today we made cardboard clocks and Nadia decorated hers with glitter glue. I did get a photo of her sparkly fingers though!Colin's new thing is his hockey stick and ball. He screeches, he loves it so much. I hope our walls survive the swinging and enthusiasm on the other end of the stick.

art gallery

2009-03-05T20:22:00.002-06:00

The kids did some painting last day, as Nadia says, and it was the day someone was coming to see the house, so I cropped it and put it on the living room wall. First is Colin's. He has less on the page because he was too interested in dipping his brush into all the colours. I had to remind him to put the brush on the page. I'm glad to report that he didn't eat any this time.
And Nadia's masterpieces. She spent quite a long time and was trying to be quite precise. She told me she wants to be an artist when she grows up. But she couldn't imagine a Vancouver loft and kept asking if her studio would have a kitchen and bedroom and such. I said yes, but she didn't believe me.

Is this blog working?

2009-03-03T22:43:00.002-06:00

Hi all, I've been hearing that our blog is not working. I deleted some of the blogs that were giving me some grief and hoping that fixed it, but can you do me a favour. Can you post a comment and tell me if you think it looks normal again. The post below this should be, Edmonton - day 2, Edmonton - day 1 and 4th little girl birthday party. Are the sidebars showing up? How do I fix this, it shows up fine on our computer. Ahhh!!!! I don't like when technology has glitches.

Edmonton - day 2

2009-02-21T22:09:00.002-06:00

Well, day 2 started abruptly at 6am when the radio came on and blared music at us. We didn't set it! But thankfully the kids didn't wake up and we went back to sleep for a while. Praise God that they slept all night with only 1 little peep from Colin!

We had breakfast out and then did a little shopping, more window shopping, in the morning. By lunch the kids were starting to really wonder why we keep going out to eat! After lunch we went to "the acreage" so that Meredith could watch Colin while we went for a tour of the Castle Downs area with Sarah, the children and youth director. It was really fun and we learned a lot about the church and area. I was so very thankful that Colin slept and didn't make strange when he woke up in a new place. But Meredith is so kind and has plenty of toys to keep him occupied.

Then we went to Rosie's for supper. She is such a sweetie and we had a wonderful time visiting. And from there we dropped off Tim at the church for a meeting with the Board and Search Committee. I just need to do some ironing and then into bed. Hopefully it will be another sound sleep tonight.

Edmonton - day 1

2009-02-20T20:54:00.005-06:00

Hello everyone,

We just had the best day and I just had to tell someone. So the early part of the day didn't start off that great, because between Colin teething and Nadia getting to bed really late, I was up most of the night with someone. But after that it started getting better, with a great finish. So here's what happened. Grandma made us a wonderful birthday breakfast for Nadia, who is actually 4 today. Then Nadia was so excited about her presents and about eating the most beautiful princess cake Grandpa made. I'll have to post those pictures later.

And then we got in the car to drive to Edmonton. I was fearing the drive a little, but packed lots of toys and fun snacks. To my amazement the drive seem to go quite fast because the kids were busy playing with toys. Colin didn't even fall asleep until almost 2 hours after his normal nap time, even though he didn't sleep the night before. He must have been having fun. And we arrived in Edmonton, a 5 hour trip and we didn't have to show 1 DVD and Nadia didn't even ask for 1! To me that's a huge answer to prayer.

Then we met Darcy and came to the hotel. It is amazing. We have a 2 bedroom with a jacuzzi tub and bunk beds in the second room! Nadia loved it right away and has been pointing out all the cool things about our "house", like 2 tv's and the "mini water park"!!!

Then we went out for supper at a little Thai place beside the hotel. It was sooooo good, and Colin ate just about as much as I did, he loved it so much. I hope that spicy dish doesn't come back to haunt us tonight.

When we came back from supper the kids took a dippy in the "mini water park"!!! And now they are both sound a sleep in the same room, Nadia on the top bunk.

My family is so great. The kids have made this day a really fun one, when it could have been so bad...from the lack of sleep. And the icing on the cake for me was that we got invited to someone's house for supper tomorrow. I'm so excited. Oh, and if that wasn't enough, I just wrote this post on our new laptop courtesy of Tim's Dad!! Thanks Dad.

So tomorrow we will get into the real visiting and getting to know each other thing. But today was sure a great start to this trip.

PS. Jen, we're in Edmonton to do a first time meet and greet weekend for the lead pastor position. They've also called it a pre-candidating weekend.

4th little girl party

2009-02-16T17:57:00.006-06:00

Okay it's not the 4th little girl party we've had, but it was Nadia's 4th Birthday party on Valentine's Day. Her birthday isn't actually until the 20th, but we will be driving to Edmonton that day so we had it the weekend earlier. She thinks that since she had her party she's now 4. Above Nadia is helping to make her cupcakes, okay chocolate muffins for her party.
We had a scavenger hunt for little Dora stickers which Tim and I hid all around the house. I hid them individually and Tim thought it would be more efficient to put little piles all over. Anyway, I think the game was a huge hit. Here they are looking all over my pantry for little sticker.
Opening the cards. We always say, please, please, please no gifts, just cards. So they sat around and looked at all the home made cards. They were so excited about it, almost like they were presents. I was quite fun to watch.
The girls all decorated their muffins. The icing was a little runny because I was trying to make it more pink and added too much raspberry juice. But it held the decorations anyway. I don't think Nadia could have got anymore on there.

We almost forgot to do candles and sing, but Daddy remembered.

I had a craft and another colouring page for the girls, but they decided to play princess dress-up instead. Which was really fun. They all got dressed up and then I helped them practice thier "show" for the big people.

At the end of the day Nadia decided that now she's a big girl and she can put herself to bed. So she tucked in her puppy, read him a story, prayed by herself and went to sleep. What a girl. We're so blessed to have her.

my sweetie

2009-02-16T17:53:00.002-06:00

I just had to show-off my beautiful bouquet from Tim. He is so thoughtful, he even took the time to order just what I would love. I feel so special. And orchids are my favourite. So I can enjoy these ones until my potted ones bloom. Thanks honey!

goodbye

2009-02-12T15:26:00.004-06:00

Today we said goodbye to our very big fig tree. Tim and I bought this tree when it was about 4 inches tall and it had about that many leaves. It's traveled with us to many houses and places. But as you can see it's just getting too big. It's now about 7 1/2 feet tall and about 5 feet wide. So I finally found a friend who just loves it and said she has the perfect spot for it in her family room. I'm so pleased it's going to someone who will love it and care for it. Nadia was quite sad to hear it was leaving, but I told her that after we move we'll get a new little one and it can be Mommy and her tree. And we can water it and wash it together. She's pretty pumped about it. Which makes the whole thing easier. Good bye old friend.

homemade fun

2009-02-11T14:16:00.002-06:00

I just love watching Daddy play with the kids. He has so much more energy than me after supper. Here they're running around the dinning room table and screaming. It's very loud. And Nadia is holding on to Daddy's pockets and getting swung around on the corners. I think Colin is taking a little break in the background.
Nadia and Colin made up a mitten game. They both had on a pair of slippery mittens and then crawled around on the floor, sliding and giggling. It was pretty entertaining. We've been out of the house more this month so there aren't as many photos of the kids. I'm trying to get the camera out more often.

update

2009-02-10T23:01:00.003-06:00

I thought I should give a quick update about our visit to Castle Downs Church in Edmonton. We are still going for a meet and greet it's just that the date was changed. We are now going the next weekend, Feb. 20-22. And yes, we will be driving to Edmonton on Nadia's 4th Birthday. Although we've talked about it and I really don't think she cares because we are having a little girl birthday bash the weekend before. So if you have any really fun games for 3-5 year old girls, please let me know.

I know...2 posts with no pictures. I'll try to post some of those in the next few days.

Exciting News!!!

2009-01-26T14:19:00.004-06:00

We finally have some good news!

We've been looking for a new church since September and shortly after then heard that Castle Downs Baptist Church in Edmonton, a BGC church, is looking for a lead pastor. It sounded like it might be a fit for us so we sent Tim's pastor's profile, fancy lingo for 16 page long version of a 'resume'. Since then we've had email conversations and a phone interview in November. We've been waiting to hear news if they wanted to pursue us or not and this Sunday we got the news.

They've asked us to come for a visit for the Valentine's weekend. It's a meet and greet where we'll spend some time hanging out with the board and the rest of the congregation and Tim will preach on Sunday. We've decided to take the whole family to see the area and the church. We are very excited and feel so relieve to be moving forward.

Thank you to all of you who have been praying for us. We pray now that God would prepare Castle Downs and us for this visit and that we would all have a good sense if this is the right direction for the church and for us. We are really excited about the church and the opportunities for ministry there.

In case you're wondering about our house, it's still on the market. There have been a few families interested, and we did a showing but no offers yet. Another prayer item.

keeping busy

2009-01-12T20:37:00.007-06:00

Nadia and Colin play so well together, sometimes. And I caught a moment to prove it. I'm not entirely sure what they were doing but it sounded funny.

While Colin naps Nadia is allowed to play with her strawberry shortcake and my little pony stuff. And my are they tiny. I can barely pick them up. Nadia loves it and set up 2 different parties around 2 tables. And only 1 thing has gone down the cold air return. Don't stress....we got it out.

Nadia loves to go shovel the driveway with Daddy. She ran out the door, across the deck and into the pile of snow we've made.

Of course, eating snow!

Getting the snow off the slide. They were out for about an hour, and Daddy had to drag her inside. She brought me a gift...a plant, in the form of 2 sticks. Which Colin had a blast with, whacking everything.

hockey night in Birch Hills

2009-01-12T20:31:00.005-06:00

We finally made it to one of Tim's hockey games. This year he's decided to play goal and really loves it. Too bad the little guys before him ran late. We watched almost more of them play than Tim's game. Although we got to see the Zamboni and that brought out 1001 questions from Nadia. Then when Tim came on the ice and I said, "Wave at Daddy," Nadia waved at some other guy. We did manage to see him make some saves before it was too late and we had to go.

stuck inside

2009-01-08T11:19:00.011-06:00

We've had a few snow storms with really strong winds which made these very cool patterns in the back yard. We now have a snow bank about 3 1/2 feet high at the entrance to the backyard, which spans across the entire yard. We've also had really cold weather since before Christmas. It's been -30 or more, or is it less. Anyway, it's been crazy cold and I've been trying to stay inside.

Colin found another use for his dump truck. Nadia and him have races across the family room. It's such a fun place to run around when we have a fire in there.

Watching the fire with Daddy. Colin especially loves to sit and watch the flames.

Princess Nadia. Every morning she gets herself dressed and then puts one of her princess dresses on. I think she's worn one almost everyday since Christmas. She's becoming more aware and lately we have conversations like this.

Mommy "Nadia, please wash your hands again and use soap this time."
Nadia "How do you know I didn't use soap?"
Mommy "I'm standing 10 feet away, I can see you!"
Nadia ~look of confusion~
Mommy ~trying not to laugh out loud~

Colin has been working on 6 teeth lately and 4 are molars. So he's been a little grumpy and no wanting to drink. The other day I found that he will drink if it's stolen from Nadia's cup. So now he gets his own cup with a straw.

Painting

Colin really loves to paint and he actually asked to paint. He's very good at using the brush for the first while, but then just can't stop himself and starts in with the fingers. He's learning not to eat paint. It just doesn't taste good. At least that's what I assume from his face. Poor guy kept trying to wipe it out with his painted fingers too. Don't worry, it really wasn't much paint and I don't think he even swallowed any. But I do think we need to invest in a smock for him.

Happy Birthday Grandma

2008-12-31T12:45:00.003-06:00

2 days after Christmas is Grandma's birthday and we decided to celebrate with breakfast. Lisa made a very yummy breakfast....oh, can you send me the biscuit and gingerbread recipe? We had breakfast at Lisa's place and took every opportunity to bug her about her giant cutlery. Notice Nadia's fork!!

It was very fun to all squeeze around the table and have breakfast. I love that kind of thing. When you have to find chairs and be creative.

Happy Birthday Grandma. We love you....even though you're now 47!!! :)

Christmas on Christmas

2008-12-31T12:28:00.003-06:00

We went to Martensville on Christmas Eve and opened more presents on Christmas Day with Tim's family. They were so generous. And we all loved our gifts. Colin just wanted to play with his presents as soon as he opened them.

Nadia got more princess stuff. Dresses and accessories. She was so happy.

Colin also got a huge metal Tonka truck. It's so big that he can ride in the box. He loves it. Thanks for spoiling us everyone.

packages

2008-12-29T15:17:00.011-06:00

Before Christmas Nadia was into caring for Colin like he was her baby. One morning I found she had wrapped him up, and was reading him a story and feeding him some sippy cup. And Colin was actually playing along and enjoying it.

We did presents on Christmas Eve morning. The kids spent all morning unwrapping and playing with their new toys. Colin was very excited about his new book from Uncle Rueben.

Nadia anxiously awaits her princess slippers.

A much wanted Strawberry Shortcake doll.

Colin was so excited about presents but tired out pretty quick. I guess we gave him too many clothes to open first. He was laying on the sofa sucking his thumb, so I handed him a present to open.

So we thought we better give him a "fun" present.

Nadia in all her princess stuff.

Colin loving his "fun" toy. Tools just like Daddy's. He didn't even care to sit comfortably, he just played.

And the big lego blocks were a huge hit for both kids. I was surprised that Colin knew exactly what to do with them. Thanks to my family for sending so many wonderful gifts.

Big News....

2008-12-20T21:03:00.006-06:00

Well, I know you all think we`re nuts for putting our house up for sale at the end of November, but can you believe we got a call! The couple will be coming Monday to see it, and they`ve already told me that from the photos on saskhouses, they love it. Let`s hope they think it`s even better in person. I`ve never been attached to any place we`ve lived before, so it`s a bit strange, but I feel a little sad to have to leave.
Colin`s big news is that he`s finally getting 2 more teeth. He`s almost 1 1/2 and these 2 teeth make a total of 8 teeth. I think Nadia had about 12 or more teeth at this age. But it doesn`t seem to slow him down. He eats anything, even ketchup chips...yuck! He has ketchup seasoning on his nose. And my little performer/artist was so cute the other day. She found this container and turned it into a stage. The iPod and speakers are right behind her head so the music is blaring and she`s singing along. See her intently trying to memorize all the words, and using her imaginary mic. At the end of Nadia`s Veggie Tale DVD`s there are clips called How to Draw. One of the graphic artist will do a step by step clip for kids about how to draw the main character. Nadia always loves to watch them, but when I ask her if she wants some paper to draw along she always gives me one of those I can`t draw excuses. Which I always think is strange because she loves to draw and does so all the time. Anyway, the other day, or last day as Nadia says, I asked her if she wants to draw along and she said yes. I was so excited. So she drew along, pausing to catch-up and at the end I thought she did a great job following along. She then drew one for each person in the family.This is Larry as Moe from Moe and the Big Exit. He`s got his western gear on with a big hat, blue shirt and red scarf. Hope you can make it out.

since the last post

2008-12-13T15:03:00.009-06:00

Nadia's been learning guitar.

We all went to a little hill to try out the new sled. It was Nadia's first time sledding and she was so excited. First she went down with Daddy and then she learned to go down on her own. Colin gave it a go with Daddy too, but it was much too cold for him. So we sat in the car and took photos.
Colin loves to sit on things. He will find something the right height and slowly turn around and carefully sit on it. One day he must have sat on the toy drum about 50 times, just practicing.

Auntie Lisa, Juanita and Kaleb came to visit. Nadia had a fun time hugging and generally smothering him. And look at what a good sport Kaleb was, he's even smiling.
A new game the kids made up. Sliding around on the tea set tray in the family room. I looks really fun, but takes way too much energy and muscle, especially to fly Nadia around the room.
I asked Nadia to clean up the toys and make sure they all go in the proper bins. I guess we have a lot of upstairs toys that migrated to the living room. When I saw the pile so precariously stacked twice as high as the basket I couldn't help but laugh.
Colin's new favourite thing is to play with the water in the sink, and the stopper. He gets soaked and frozen, but he just keeps playing. Nadia looks like she's helping, but really she just saw me taking a photo and wanted to be in it.
Colin's first go at the spoon. One day he was so whiny before supper that I gave him a fruit cup and a spoon to keep him busy. As Nadia and I worked in the kitchen we soon figured out that he wasn't hungry, he just wanted to play in the water at the sink. He can even get the chair over to the sink by himself.

If you're wondering about where we're at, then you'll want to read the following update. I know it's hard to keep track of what we're doing and where we're going so I'll give you what we know. We've been talking to a church in Edmonton about a lead pastor position. From what they've sent us and from what we've heard we would love to go there and we think it would be a fit. We're ready to get going, but the search committee is ready to break for Christmas, so we won't hear anything until after the New Year.

We've had an income until end of November, thanks to the generosity of the church, but Tim has been working on the house until now and just a few weeks ago started looking for work. Turns out this is bad timing to find something in the trades, and so we had a stressful few weeks job hunting and really hoping for anything. He applied at such a variety of companies and finally was offered a job from Ashley cabinets and windows. He's doing the deliveries for now and we're hoping he can move into the shop soon. I, Annalisa, was asked to paint a basement and spent the last week working evenings doing that. Anyone need any painting or cleaning done? So we're scraping by and hoping for things to move along in the New Year.

renos: before & after

2008-11-23T21:28:00.019-06:00

Well as you may know we have been hard at work for the last couple of months renovating. We have had requests for some before and after pictures and so here they are. We start the tour in the lovely Kitchen. Note the flooring and lovely appliances and back splash.

before: kitchen

after: kitchen

Then comes the Dining room. As much as we hated to do it, we did remove the 70's light fixture and the green is gone.

before: dining room

after: dining room

The living room was a lot of work, no more fireplace, bulk head, tiles on the ceiling, or saw dust in the walls.

before: living room

Now it's R20 insulation, Ikea lights and Bamboo flooring.

after: living room

This is the other half of the living room. Note the bulk head that you would hit your head on if you walked up the stairs. Also the purple and brown and mirror box shelving things.

before: living room

Now it's bamboo stairs, maple and aircraft cable stair case and a door to the basement.

after: living room

This next room was a real gem. Believe me, the pictures make it look good. Our Master bedroom was a lovely pink, well blackish pink due to the grime, with peeling off pink flower wall paper. And oh, those curtains.

before: master bedroom

After three coats of paint on the ceiling and a lovely color on the walls, this feels much better. And check out those roman blinds Anna made.

after: master bedroom

With thick blue carpet around the toilet and a tub you couldn't stand in, due to ceiling height, this bathroom was icky and useless.

before: ensuite

Now it has a new tub, toilet, vanity, sink, tile... hey everything, and it feels a lot nicer.

after: ensuite

After we got the three layers of border off, Nadia's room turned out to be one of the easier rooms.

before: Nadia's room

after: Nadia's room

Colin's room was easy too, all I had to do was rip off the panel board, re-frame a bit, put up new drywall, tape, mud, put in a new door and get carpet installed. No problem, right?

before: Colin's room

after: Colin's room

After many months of this family room being used as my shop, we finally had to finish it. So new carpet and tile, some paint and light fixtures and it's good to go.

before: family room

after: family room

Well that's the tour, well most of it, You'll have to stop by for the rest, or check it out at saskhouses.com in Birch Hills. Anyone want to by a house? Beautiful yard, fully renovated and a great buy. Stop by for a visit while you still can.

Tim

Gorilla visit...

2008-11-17T23:52:00.004-06:00

...is what I'm calling Opa & Oma's visit this time. Nadia and my parents made up this funny game called the Gorilla game and they would play it in the morning before the rest of us got up. At least she was entertained.
Nadia has her first icicle of the year. Opa had to reach it for me. Thanks.
Opa got too sore sitting around doing nothing so he swept and then shovelled our driveway for us. How kind...thanks Dad. It was also very mild while they were here and we had a lot of fun playin in the snow.
My mom was looking out the window every 5 minutes to see if it was snowing yet. We got a snowfall and she got to see it. I'm glad it made someone smile. All the rest of us are growning because we know that we wont see the ground for 7 months now. Oh well, it is pretty.

Halloween fun

2008-11-17T23:43:00.004-06:00

I though we should have something to let the kids know we had candy. So Nadia and I made our family out of pumpkins. Notice that she drew and coloured her own pumpkin. Nadia is standing outside in her Ariel dress and it's just above 0. Tough girl.
All dressed up....and having so much fun!
Nadia's Halloween loot. Daddy took her to a few houses. Colin & I stayed home to give candy to the kids, and Colin couldn't stop taking the candy out of the bowl and giving it to me. I tried to make him stop, but he got really mad. Of course he later expected me to give all of the candy back.

random life

2008-10-29T21:16:00.010-06:00

We had house church a while ago and these are our faithful attenders. Nadia was so excited that she went up stairs and begged to wear her special polka dot dress. Colin was up there too and also pick out a special shirt to wear...one of Nadia's. I was just surprised he didn't pick pink!

Tim keeps asking Nadia to help him drywall and she always tells him that she's too little. She has to be in school for that! The other day Tim asked again and she replied, "sure", not really believing that Daddy would let her. Well, was she ever surprised and excited to mud all the screw holes.

The final product. With only a little help from Daddy.

That same day Nadia and Colin helped clean-up some leaves from the front yard. I don't think Colin got any in, but boy did he ever try.
While we were outside the Rona delivery truck came...with our LAST order!!!! They sat and watched the stuff being loaded into the house. Colin went crazy because there was a truck, which he called a tractor.

Colin giving us his lion growl. I guess it would have been better as a video.

Nadia doing some kind of princess dance. She has names for most of them...like the flying pony dance and the spoon hopping dance...
My lovely hubby doing what he hates...ripping. Too bad he's so good at it. Good bye ugly green peel and stick. It was so...not durable...that Colin could pick it off.
And our two sweeties having a juice break together. That cup is just about as big as Colin. I just love the way he asks for juice...jsssssssssss.

some fun at last

2008-10-16T20:47:00.003-06:00

We were in the city the other day and decided that we would fulfill Nadia's dreams of owning a princess dress. We let her pick this Ariel dress. And we picked out this cute little lion outfit for Colin. Let me know if you want it because I really don't think he will ever wear it again. He doesn't like it...which is too bad because I think he is so cute in it.

And some tom foolery. Tim needed a break from renos and the kids needed to be silly, so this was the result...the peasant trampoline. But no standing. Colin thought it was hilarious. In fact I'm blown away lately about how much he's changing. He's saying, or trying to say, so many words. And I can actually translate most of them. I'm also astounded at his love for tractors. He has 2 now and carries them around like little prize possessions. Our kids are so cute.

before & after

2008-10-14T21:37:00.007-06:00

At long last I am posting some finished photos of our house renos. So here are the before and afters of our living room. In case you're wondering, we did completely remove the fireplace...it was just too far gone.
These stairs still need some finishing. Just in case you thought we were going for the industrial look.
It's funny, I can hardly remember the house the way it used to be. This is now my favourite room. I have to say that Tim is my hero. He did a fabulous job at things he didn't even know how to do before this reno. He is a master crafts man, did you see those stairs!!!!

all at once

2008-09-28T21:34:00.002-06:00

This last year has been an intense time of learning for us. August 1st marked the end of my first official year of ministry. And as we reflected on the year it became clear to us that I am a round peg in a square hole. Lake Park is a good church, and I am called to be a pastor, but we just didn't seem to fit each other. I found over the last year that I am more passionate than I thought about music. I also love to preach, and teach, and lead. Yup, you guessed it, none of those were in my job description. So after a long and prayerful struggle I had to resign. I was officially done at the beginning of September so many of you know this already.

Now you may be one of those people who would not resign their position until you had a backup plan, or knew that work was ligned up for you. Not me! No sir, when I resigned there was no insulation in the walls of our living room and I had about two months left of solid renovations to sell the house. OK, I've never been accused of being smrt. To our suprise and through the grace of God, our church was very understanding and supportive. They even offered to pay me for an extra two months while we finished renovating. They really are great people.

I was not sure what the next step would be (past renovating that is) but God had seemed to be leading us in the church planting direction before we came here and I was again feeling led to pursue this area. In fact an opportunity arose in Warman for a church plant and it looked really exciting. However, there are certain personality traits and skills that a church planter needs, did I have those? Enter the Church Planting Assessment Center. Yup, off we went (on my sisters B-day) to Burnaby, BC to take an intensive three days of evaluation and testing to see if we had church planting skills. This is also why we haven't blogged about this yet.

Oh, the kids had to stay with Grandma in Martensville. Thanks Grandma, they had a blast. Lisa was there for a few days but she got the flu just when she arrived and then Grandma got sick too. Somehow they managed to care for the kids though. Another couple of weeks and we will have the kids back to normal. Thanks Grandma and Lisa. OK, back to us at the assessment.

And the results are? Not recomended. That's right, we are not church planters. But man did I learn about myself. This assessment was incredibly valuable not only for me but also for Anna. Without this assessment we probably would have tried to plant a church and it probably would have killed us, or turned us into small tasteless vegitables. A big thankyou to the Baptist General Conference of Saskatchewan for sending us to this assessment and covering the cost (Lake Park actually covered the flights, thanks again guys). It was expensive but it saved us both money in the long run and was very valuable for me as a pastor. Thank you.

As a bonus from the flight to Burnaby we stayed an extra day at Annas parents place and got to see the family once again. Without kids though, sorry guys. It was great to catch up and see everybody, thanks for your hospitality Mom and Dad.

So as of right now I only know a few things for certain. God is good and He will lead and guide us, I'm doing hardwood this week, and we are still wanting to sell our house in November. After that, who knows. Please pray for us as we look for a place where I can be the man God has made me to be. I know everything is in His timing and He always works things out for us, but He always saves it to the last minute too.

So if anyone knows of a pastoral position or a place to live or wants to buy our house just give us a call. On a lighter note, we did sell the Lumina, so miricales can happen. We just got a new CD of Third Day and we have made the song Revelation our theme song for the next couple months. Check it out. Thanks for reading and catching up with us.

Tim Sawatzky

in the past week...

2008-09-14T16:50:00.012-06:00

....we've done a lot of things. Nadia and I went to the dentist, and afterward she got new clips and barrettes. Daddy helped to put all of them in at once. Not sure why she needed to sit in the basket, on top of the sofa.
Nadia and I have an agreement that if she doesn't bite her nails for 1 week she can have nail polish on all her fingers and toes....and thumbs! We made a little sticker chart to keep track. And I painted her 1 thumb to get her excited about it. I'm happy to say it's working and she hasn't even nibbled since we started.
Colin thought it was fun to get on the basket, throw the toothbrush and then get it and get back up.

Daddy helped Nadia climb into this tree.

Over 20 cans of paint still to go on the walls of our house. (a downfall of a large house)

Nadia and Keziah both wearing polka dots.

Ummmmmm.....

Colin loved this hat, and why not, it makes noise.

Today is my Grandpa's birthday....HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA!!!!! We love you and can't wait to see you next week. Tell us more stories when we get there.

kiddos

2008-09-08T21:17:00.010-06:00

With all the renos going on it doesn't leave much time for fun. So we squeeze it in whenever and where ever we can. Tim and Nadia were having a tickle fight. I think she pushed him off the sofa.
We don't have much left in the garden, just carrots and gourds. And Nadia is still excited about the garden and really loves to pick the carrots. Translation: she loves to chose the ones she wants me to pull. Here she's doing a little dance with the carrots. And Colin is a full time walker now.

Does he ever love the cat. I don't really think the feeling is mutual.

Colin loves playing in the sand. I always thought people were making-it-up when they said their kids liked to eat sand. Well, now I understand. Colin will grab handfuls and chow down. Maybe I should be more concerned.
In the playroom. Tim was sitting on the pillow and Colin came over, and strategically plunked himself down just like Daddy. However, Tim copied Colin with the cup thing. Boys making boy noises into a tiny cup!
Colin started this rampage of running around with Nadia's balloon in his mouth. Later he would walk and whip his head around so the balloon would hit his face. You had to be here.
Nadia was enjoying her play dough, something we haven't done in a long time. She made this snowman in hopes that snow would come soon. Every second day she asks if it's snow time because she wants to go outside and eat the snow. I almost forgot to tell you, she's doing her fish impression here.

living room renos

2008-09-01T19:10:00.004-06:00

Last week Tim put in insulation and did poly. This weekend the drywall went up. I should have snapped the photo this morning when the walls were free of stuff, but you get the idea. Today was garbage-to-the-dump day. Richard and Tim took 5 loads to the dump in his trailer that he pulls with his '54 Jimmy. Richard is so cool.

harvest

2008-09-01T19:00:00.005-06:00

We are privileged to have a farmers field in our back yard and last week they got the crops down and off. The machines were literally in our back yard cutting down the peas. We sat out there and watched them harvest the top of the field behind our house. They swathed and combined together.

perfect day to harvest.

This is our back yard grass and the combine only feet away. We were glad the wind was in our favour.

electrical

2008-09-01T18:53:00.001-06:00

After all the gutting Tim had to fix-up the electrical, and Nadia was right in there to help. I stuck a screw into a crack and she turned it back and forth for a long time. She said she was doing her work.

chubby bunny master

2008-08-20T14:14:00.002-06:00

Colin loves food so much and every so often he practices his chubby bunny moves. Here he found Nadia's little bag of goldfish crackers. He was waving them around and shocked himself when a bunch dumped out. He started eating them and by the time I grabbed the camera he looked like this. Now that's priceless! Don't tell Nadia he ate them.

our mess

2008-08-18T21:58:00.007-06:00

Since we found wood chip insulation in the walls, our main project has been to get rid of them. So Tim tore off the panel board, drywall and 1x8 boards to get at the wood chips. He's spent 2 long days sucking them out with the shop vac. It ended up being a pick-up truck full of bagged wood chips. I contemplated selling them on ebay as hamster shavings, but it was also full of drywall dust.

We also decided to take out the fireplace. At one time it had a chimney fire and was so hot that the walls of the insert warped, so it's done. Praise God for Isaac & Orvin who innocently stopped by and ended up getting the fireplace out. Thanks guys!Here's the pile of mess Tim pulled out, awaiting a dump run.

And the final bit of ripping. This hallway has to be torn apart and the left hand wall removed. So probably one more day of ripping and another couple of dump runs and we can start the building. Now we just need to get it done before my parents get here in 2 1/2 weeks. The room to the left is the spare room we're they will be staying.

love

2008-08-15T21:54:00.002-06:00

...and Nadia talking...

29

2008-08-15T21:36:00.003-06:00

Happy Birthday Tim! Poor Tim had his birthday and I didn't even snap a photo of him. All I got was Colin and Nadia playing in the box we used to transport all of Tim's gifts. But it was really fun to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa. Thank you to Lisa who picked Grandma's cherries and made the most wonderful pie.

Congratulations

2008-08-06T12:26:00.001-06:00

Congratulations to Rick & Colleen on there beautiful wedding. It was a really fun day and I'm glad we got to share it with you. Hope you have lots of laughs in the years to come.

Karen's amazing!

2008-08-06T12:18:00.003-06:00

Karen was over 8 months pregnant when she drove up here for a visit. Not only that, she just moved! Thanks for the super fun visit Karen. I think the kids had lots of fun too.

Owen didn't want to leave the big slide.

Colin just wants to climb everything. He adored Owen.

ripping and vrooming

2008-08-06T11:51:00.008-06:00

We started ripping apart the living room. Colin thought it was soooo cool. He desperately wanted to help, notice the tip toe standing.
Nadia gives a go at the ripping. I'm so impressed with Tim. I thought demo was more rage than anything else. Turns out you have to have patience so you don't wreck other stuff. I don't help with the ripping...I just haul the junk to the garage.

The insulation we found. Not cool!

Colin and Nadia don't care what our house looks like. They just play. Racing cars. I'm sure in time Colin will figure out how to drive it the right way around. Maybe it fits in his hand better this way!??!?
Nadia has to put her nose in the corner as punishment. I guess her usual corner was full of junk. I just thought it was cute that she wedged herself in there and then put her rubber boots on too.

outside

2008-07-22T21:34:00.007-06:00

I've recently discovered that Colin loves to play outside in the (pink) car. It's one of those Flintstones style ones, where you make it move with your feet. And I find it very relaxing to push him around in it. Nadia has mastered her Dora bike. She loves to go really fast and then slam on the brakes.
Yesterday, we found a really big dragonfly and I was able to get him on my finger. Nadia was very intrigued and marveled at him. It took some coaxing, but after a while she wanted to have him on her finger too. Her biggest concern was that it would tickle too much.

And today we found a large hairy caterpillar. I thought Nadia would think he was icky. But after watching him run around the driveway at light speed, I'm serious he could move, she picked him up. He ran all over her hands and arms and so she decided to keep him captive in her hands so he couldn't run away. Then I got a container for her to keep him in, and we filled it with grass. After a while he ended up back in her little hands. Funny girl.
We have been eating raspberries for a few days, and Nadia can pick them clean in a matter of minutes. And not because we don't have very many. I found out today that Colin loves them just as much. After I gave him some and figured he had enough, he decided he would lunge out of my arms and pick his own. His little hands sprung out, grasped and recoiled back to his mouth. Too bad he had a handful of leaves.

sandwich

2008-07-17T20:35:00.015-06:00

So...you may be wondering why we haven't posted in a while. Well, it's been crazy around here. Nadia had the chicken pox and Tim was in Winnipeg and gone for a week, and then we left for a week away in Calgary.

So the first day in Calgary we just lounged around. Nadia went fishing with Great Auntie Audrey, she just wanted to fish all day. And she was so cute telling us about the tiny little fish they kept catching. But that's not all they caught, there was a floating trampoline, an anchor and a dock. It was a good day.
The next day we got up supper early and headed for Kid's Day at the Stampede, hoping to make the get-in-free time of 9am. Thankfully we did and it was so worth it. First we had a free pancake breakfast, then headed for the Superdogs show. It was a huge stadium with loud music, flashing lights and filled with people. Nadia was overwhelmed at first, but then really got into it. can you believe how high this dog can jump?
After lunch we found the kids rides. I though Nadia would be a little apprehensive about it but she was way too excited. And then we got on the ride! She giggled and shrieked the whole time. It was so fun.
Then our little girl went on rides all by herself. It was really funny to watch her climb into the back seat of this car. I guess she didn't want to sit next to the cute little boy. So back seat was the only choice. Because, after all it was the only pink car. Check out her choice of colour in the other photos.
One day all the little ones were enjoying canned corn. There are 3 little boys here, all within about 3 months of age...and Nadia.

The next day we went to the zoo. Nadia thought all the animals were cool until we found this play ground. I have to admit, it was full of fun things to climb and crawl through and play in. So after that Nadia just wanted to play in the play ground with the other kids.
So we bribed her with ice cream to keep her moving. No, just kidding. But we did get ice cream...and dairy free even. It was her first cone, and Colin's too.
After the zoo, Lisa took me to my long awaited hair cut. I was a bit scared half way through when it occured to me that Tim may hate it and it would take a long time to grow back. But I pulled myself together, and the stylist finished, and then I loved it.

Nadia loved the rides at the Stampede so much that we decided to go to Calaway Park for more rides. Daddy took a turn on this one.

We also spent the day at Ikea and I got all new dishes...YAY!!! We stayed at Uncle Lorne (or what's his face) and Auntie Audrey's. It was so much fun, you guys are great hosts and we love you a lot. Thank you sooo much. Well I bet your wondering why I called this blog "sandwich". Nadia had the chicken pox before we went and we were very relieved that they were over for our holidays. However when we got back, a couple days later Colin broke out even worse than Nadia. So sorry to the Calgary people we might have infected. We didn't know. Honest. Look at this poor guy.
And in the midst of looking like this and no sleep and on Benadryl, the brave little man took his very first steps today. Adda boy Colin.

Big One Birthday

2008-06-29T20:19:00.009-06:00

Well it was my little guy's big day today, (Tim here). He turned the big 01. That's right, it's hard to believe that it has been a year since he was born. Colin has lived in three houses already and attended two churches. That's more places and churches than a lot of people around here. The downer of the day was that poor Nadia has the chicken pox. Colin has a few and they don't really bug him. But Nadia got them full force. So Anna and the kids stayed home from church and tried to relax.Colin thought is was cool that we sang happy birthday to him but for the most part didn't really see anything different. My Mom and Dad came for the day so the kids were excited to see them and had fun playing together. Then our friends Gord and Becky stopped by and we had a good visit. And Colin did what we all want to do on our Birthday's, went for a nap. When he got up Nadia just couldn't take it any more and she wanted him to open presents but he was hungry so we all ate supper together. Then the presents.
Nadia is a wonderful helper and showed Colin how to open his presents. She was so excited for him.
Our one request for his birthday was some boy toys. Mission accomplished. Oma and Opa got him this cool basketball thing that he loves. Grandma and Grandpa got him some books and a fire truck, and we got him a little people construction zone. They all make loud noises and have moving parts or lights. He loves them.
Then it was time for cake, or banana chocolate chip muffins with chocolate icing, as the case may be. He was getting tired at this point and so the thumb was in his mouth and Nadia helped blow out the candle. But once he got a taste of that chocolaty goodness Mommy had to pry it out of his hands. Yes, he likes chocolate.
Overall it was a fun day. And in case Colin gets nostalgic and reads the blogs that we wrote about him when he was a kid, Colin, I love you lots. You are quite the little man and I am very proud of you. Love, your daddy.

What is that?

2008-06-25T21:22:00.002-06:00

I'm not entirely sure what kind of emotion Colin is expressing here, but I think it's hilarious. I laugh every time I see this picture. Nadia is so calm and he's.....so....not!

visitors

2008-06-14T09:44:00.006-06:00

Last weekend we went to Grandpa & Grandma's house to visit. Great Uncle Lorne and Great Auntie Audrey were there too. At first Nadia wanted nothing to do with them, especially Lorne. Even though he continually offered her money...she wouldn't take it. I think we pay with plastic too much, she hardly knows what coins are for. But after we spent the night she warmed up and played catch. Nadia adores you Uncle Lorne!
And Colin is completely the opposite, he loves everyone. Especially if you pick him up and carry him around. He was even snuggling with Auntie Audrey, the head butt snuggle.
Auntie Lisa was there too, on vacation, and we went to the Martensville parade. Grandma bought Nadia this baby stroller and car seat (and a playpen and highchair too) so Nadia had to take it to the parade. A week later she's still talking about how cool the parade was.
Yesterday, Grandma and Auntie Lisa came for a visit. We made cookies and decorated them. And of course ate them. Here's Nadia pausing to smile. But that cookie is in mid-motion going right back into her mouth.
And finally, about the puffy eye. If you saw our last post you probably thought something tragic happened. But it was just a mosquito bite. I saw the mosquito and everything, but couldn't reach it in time. A few days later she looked herself again. Way to go Danielle and Andrea for guess it!

Now a word from Nadia: o0gggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg ggggg7gggggggggggggg mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmnnnnnn yggggggggggggggggggggggggg ggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg

What happened?

2008-06-09T10:23:00.000-06:00

We actually do know what happened. But we thought it would be fun to ask you to guess. So...what do you think happened?

play time

2008-06-05T16:30:00.006-06:00

If you saw the last few posts, you're probably wondering if yard work is all we do. Not so! There's lots of playing that happens in our yard too.

Learning to golf is harder than it looks.
Colin gave it a go too.

Playing around in the sand box. Tim, how come you don't sit in the sand and play? Scared you'll get sand dumped down your pants?

the yard

2008-06-05T15:56:00.012-06:00

I don't mean to offend anyone with the gruesome content of these first few photos. But, I was looking at my garden and thinking that I can't even remember what it looked like when I started. So I dug-up some old photos from April when the snow was melting. And yuck! Here are a few before photos.
After much hauling, digging, and moving, our front garden is finally starting to look presentable. The previous people tried to make a rock garden. So we hauled out many loads of rock and then started to re-arrange the boulders. I can't wait to see it in full bloom. This bush, I think a honey suckle, is always buzzing with bees. And the smell is sweet and pure and delicious. I just love this bush.

And what about the back of the yard? We decided to turn the dirt and weeds into grass and vegetable garden, so we started seeding. I was so shocked and amazed when the baby grass started to come up, I just had to take pictures. And here is the first thing to come up in the veggie garden, the radishes. Nadia helped me plant almost all of the garden. It was so fun to hear her talk about all the different shapes of seeds. Did you know that the beans are cow seeds?

day 3, 4 & 5...

2008-06-05T15:21:00.005-06:00

Just in case you were keeping up with the progress on our roof. It has been 5 very full days of hard work for the guys, but they are finally finished. Our roof was pretty tricky, but we're glad to say it's done and I think it looks great. Just in case you forgot what the old cedar shakes looked like, here's a before and after. Now we just need to re-paint the trim, to brown, and do the siding. Any takers for helping with that? Don't worry, that's next summers project.

all sorts

2008-05-25T22:13:00.004-06:00

We've been up to all sorts of things lately. Nadia loves to help me water the flowers. It's a great thing because it's been really sunny and warm and without her they may not be as healthy. Nadia is also sporting a pony tail here. She's 3 and I can count on 1 hand the times she's actually kept 1 in for more than 10 seconds. This 1 actually lasted all morning until after lunch.
With Nadia I was so eager to try everything, with Colin it's more like, "Oh, I guess we should do that now..." So he's almost 11 months old and I'm finally giving him finger foods. I guess up until now he's been a gager. So I am very pleased that he can eat with his hands and not choke, for the most part.
Strawberry pieces where the first finger foods he ate without choking. Good pick Colin.
Lately, Nadia always wants Colin to sit in her lap while she strangles, I mean hugs, him. Mostly, he doesn't really want to be restrained so this is usually a short lived event. But, Colin does giggle and love to play with Nadia so he tolerates it. It's a good thing he's easy going.

before & after

2008-05-18T21:51:00.006-06:00

Before

Above is the before picture. Colin was born with lots of hair, which all fell out and then came right back and has been growing furiously ever since. I always thought it was cute....kind of emo style. But in the past few days people have been calling him a girl and scoffing at his long hair. So that was the clincher. As I'm an impulsive person, I got out the sewing scissors, put on a DVD and went at it. The picture below is the first round cut, where I just got the bulk off. The last photo is the final product. This is my first boy cut ever, so it was a learning experience.

Tim went to church early for music practice so I had to get us all ready and out the door by 10am. You should have seen me this morning. I was finishing up Colin's hair, behind ears and the back, thinking we had lots of time. At 10 to 10 I realized I had little tiny baby hairs all over me and so did Colin and only I was dressed and ready. Ahhh!!! You might say we were late to church because of Colin's hair....but really, I can't get anywhere on time.

After

day 2...

2008-05-18T21:50:00.001-06:00

....of roofing. It was a very long day for the guys, who put in a 10 hour day in the heat on Saturday of a long weekend. But as you can see the new shingles look very sleek. I just can't get over the difference. After 2 days, well I guess 1 1/2, the one side is finished. I think they'll take another 2 days for the other side, our roof is a tricky one with the 2 dormers. They are doing a fabulous job, and I'm so please with the way it's turning out. Thanks guys!

day 1...

2008-05-15T21:24:00.009-06:00

...day 1 of our new roof! Above is the before picture of the old cedar shakes that are curled and falling off, and oh....about 5 years past due. So, today the shingles came off in a shingle slide. It was very noisy. As the guys pried and pushed them off.
Here's our friend Jerry putting on the new shingles. He's the brains of the operation. The good news is that we only had minimal patching so far and things are going smoothly.
And Steve and Travis....don't you have school Travis? Anyway, we're glad he came to help.
And while the guys were working on the roof, the girls were working in the yard. Maybe I was the only girl really working...putting more leaves into bags. But boy is our sandbox getting used. Above is Ashlyn our little neighbour girl. Her and Nadia just love to play together. It is so great to have someone for Nadia to play with.

And Colin...showing off the leaf that he found. If I wasn't supervising, he would have eaten a lot of leaves and grass.

where we're at

2008-05-13T14:06:00.006-06:00

You've probably noticed a lack of blogging lately. There's a good reason...well a few of them. The weather is finally warm. We have a cool back yard. Nadia just got a swing set. And I can't keep her inside. And lets face it...I have a hard time coming inside too. I love it out there. We have tons of work to do on our yard, but it's really fun. And now that I've decided what to do about it, the hardest part for me is done. Now just the brute labour.
Here's Nadia on her swing set.
She can get on and off the rocket and make it go all by herself. I'm pretty impressed.
She always wants to help in the yard. She chose to use the garden rake for the grass, so I'm not too sure how that leaf raking was going for her.
And about the neighbours. Our yard backs onto a farmers field. And just across the "highway" is another field. They decided to burn their fields this year. You can see how close this was to our property, maybe 150' away. Yikes! I'm not sure I was okay with this, but they did keep a close eye on it and it turned out okay. Not to mention the burning, we also have hundreds of sea gulls. They are hanging out in the freshly cultivated land and eating worms, I guess. They fly over our house and the noise is horrific. ...the good news is I think they've moved on now!

The safest way to get a crashed car

2008-04-29T21:45:00.004-06:00

Yes that's right my car is a total write off. Don't worry, I bought it that way. A friend of mine told me about the SGI Salvage website and so I've been looking for a car on there. I found a 1993 Mazda 626 with only 131000 km on it. It has some front end damage and I will have to do some maintenance work on it to get it past the inspections. But the motor runs great and I put a day permit on it in Saskatoon and drove it up the Birch Hills. It runs very well and the interior is in great shape. I think it will be a great second vehicle. Oh and a big thanks to Tim Braun who gave me a ride into Saskatoon and back and then came to boost the car when the battery died at the gas station, how embarrassing. When I got home I told Nadia that the new car was called a Mazda 626, then she asked if she could call it a 6x6. I said sure, whatever you want to call it.

Not bad for $450 I think.

Tim

Firsts

2008-04-28T22:32:00.003-06:00

Well on Saturday we stopped in at Canadian Tire and took a look at a bicycle for Nadia. She was really excited when she saw all the bikes but we couldn't find any her size. Then we rounded the corner and saw a two kinds of pink bikes just her size. Well right away she saw the Dora bike and wanted to see it. So I (Tim) climbed the ladder and got the bike off the rack. Nadia thought that was so cool and she wanted to sit on it and try it out. She peddled a bit and then asked if we could buy it. I think maybe she was thinking this was not something that we could buy now, I don't know. But when we said that we could buy it she was very happy. Then I picked up the bike and we started walking down the aisle. Then Nadia realized that we were serious and not going to put it back and she ran ahead of us yelling in a giddy and very excited voice, "Yeh, we are going to buy it, I so eciting, I got a Dora bike, I so eciting!" and then she started to shriek in a giddy sort of way. It was the cutest thing I think I've seen her do.
When we got home she wanted to ride it right away. She is getting better at peddling now and I've taken her down our hill out on the sidewalk a few times. She really loves that. The last couple of days we have spent a lot of time outside. Monday we raked the lawn (the only downside of a big yard is it's a lot of work, but it's worth it) and Nadia was out the whole time playing in the sand box and such. When Colin woke up we were almost finished and so he came out for a while too. I set him down on the grass for the first time and we stood back to see what he would do. If you remember the first time we set Nadia on the grass she screamed like we were torturing her. Colin was unaware that we had put him down on a strange surface until he tried to crawl. Then he stopped and picked up his hand to look at and then looked at the grass. He was a little unsure but quickly decided that it was not that big a deal. After all look at the cool leaves and sticks to eat. Summer will be fun.

what about this one?

2008-04-23T15:17:00.003-06:00

Okay, I found this photo the other day and when I turned it black and white I really liked it. And both kids are looking at the camera. So what do you think....should I sketch this one. Right now I'm going to develope all of them, colour and black and white to see which one I like best. But you can still vote becuase I don't start my class till tomorrow evening.

portait class

2008-04-19T14:33:00.006-06:00

I (Annalisa) am about to start my portrait class in pencil, which I'm way too excited about! I've been looking for a hobby and I think this will get me going on sketching again. So for the past month I've been trying to take a photo of Nadia and Colin so I can sketch their portrait. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a decent photo of the 2 of them? So here are the 3 best. And I'm asking you to VOTE on which one you think I should sketch for my portrait class. #1

#2

#3

at last

2008-04-19T14:21:00.004-06:00

This is the reason I haven't blogged in weeks. At last we can see our yard. The snow is gone and the weather is finally warm...at least in SK terms. Nadia and I have been outside cleaning up the fall mess and checking out our yard. We cleaned up her enormous sand box and I gave her some sand toys and now she just won't come in. I guess that's good. We also raked the front lawn and caught about 30 ladybugs already. Nadia was thrilled. She would find them and then put them on the deck and wait to see if they were alive or dead. Then she would narrate what was happening. It was too funny.

up up and away

2008-04-19T14:06:00.003-06:00

Colin has recently figured out how to pull himself up onto things. He can get up onto the play kitchen and coffee tables and the like. Although Grandma & Grandpa bought this kitchen with Nadia in mind, I think Coin gets the most joy out of it right now. He likes to open all the doors and then climb up to the buttons that make noise and light. Not only does he love the kitchen, he also loves all the things that go with it, like plates and bowls. He can spend much time smashing them together and making different noises.

Vacation

2008-04-04T21:25:00.025-06:00

A few days before we left for vacation we went to Martensville to hang-out with Auntie Lisa for Easter. It was a quick trip but it was good to see Lisa again. And Colin loved Lisa, he cuddled right in.
I met up with some friends from high school. It was really fun to get out and visit with these lovely ladies. Congratulations Alicia!
Oma bought Nadia a game where you have to match the animals and then put them in the ark. She loves it, and Opa was a great sport to play with her. Although they argued about whether the rain should be put in the ark or on the ark.
Colin loved everyone. I'm so happy that he's not making-strange with people. He had a lot of fun head-butting her. Which means that he really loves Great Grandma.
The family at Great Oma's 90th birthday party. Nadia was a little unsure of the whole thing, but then she met Landon, a fun loving cousin about her age, and then she had a great time playing. Although she still didn't want her picture taken.
My Oma, Martha Bayer, at the celebration of her 90th birthday. She still has her own home, caters for truck loads of people at her church, walks all over to haul groceries and supplies. She is the hardest working woman I know. She even hosted 16 people at her home for over a week! She's amazing and I'm proud to call her my Oma.
The view of the ocean as we drove to my brothers place in North Vancouver.
Nadia on the sea bus for the first time. She thought it was a great experience.
My brother Rueben took us on a tour of Lonsdale Quay. I could live in the Quay. So much great food. I had Sushi, Greek and a Canadian beaver tail for lunch. Maybe I'm a little eclectic! We went for a walk around the market part of the Quay and Nadia loved the kids section. We had to pry her out. Uncle Rueben even bought her a doll with a sleeping bag. She made sure to show her all around the house when we got home....because her doll had never been to our house before.
Colin thought it was hilarious to pull Great Oma's nose.

Nadia loved playing with her cousins. They ran a muck most of the evening.

It was really warm one day so we went for a walk down the street. Nadia doesn't really understand the concept of other people's yards. She thought she could just walk any where she wanted.

Hide and seek. Okay, sometime she's too obvious. I had to count to 30 to get this shot!

A race to get the dolls under the table.

Nadia got new clothes and she wanted to try them out. She wanted to try out her bathing suit and then her dress. So now she thinks she has to wear her suit under her dress.

Opa caught Colin for a quick photo. He was busy exploring the kitchen.

Colin was adamant that he stand and hold on to the freezer door.

Is this the longest post ever?

cave

2008-03-20T16:52:00.004-06:00

The other day Nadia and Tim went to the city together and one of the things they brought back was these interlocking mats. They are intended for making the floor softer, but Nadia would rather build things with them. It was all her idea to build a cave. So we made this cube. Colin and her had so much fun in the cave together. I didn't think they would really play together this early, but Nadia was insistent that Colin come in the cave and play...that made my day! They also had a blast scratching the textured sides to make noises. And of course we had to close the cave! Anyone want to come check out the cave? It's tight, but 3 can fit inside!

My Hockey skate goat

2008-03-19T22:20:00.005-06:00

So about hockey. Some of you know that I (Tim) have been playing hockey this year. Well it's really nothing to write about but Anna finally came out to watch (about 10 minutes) with the kids. This is my first year of hockey and I am still improving, but I really like it. The last couple of times I played, I was in goal and that was really fun, but I had let my skates go dull because it's better for playing in net. This time, I was playing forward against a rec team from the Muskoday reserve and I still had dull skates. The second shift I took, I fell into the end boards (A la Sidney Crosby for you hockey fans). I slammed pretty hard but I was OK. After all, I'm a hockey player. After that I was skating around but I felt very wobbly. It felt like I had a weak left ankle or something. Finally close to the end of the game I looked down and my skate was broken. The back half of my left skate had broken clean through. I'm fortunate that I didn't break an ankle. Well they are fixed now and I'm ready for the last game of the season this Saturday. I expect all of you there at the Birch Hills Arena at 8PM to watch. I'll be signing autographs after the game.

Date with my daughter? Thumbs up!

2008-03-19T22:12:00.009-06:00

Tim Here again. This last Monday I had to go to the city for the morning to run some errands and I thought it would be nice if I took Nadia with me. We had a blast together going from store to store and then out for lunch. I love the Father daughter time we get. I don't even have to hold up the conversation anymore, she does it all. We went to Sportscentre to fix my skates (check the next blog) and Nadia sees pink. She yells out, "Oh Daddy, it's sooo cuuute! It's the cutest thing I never seen!" Strangely enough the bad grammar sentence actually makes sense. It was really cute and she had never seen one before. It was a pink and purple Rawlings baseball glove, just her size. With a soft Tee Ball baseball. I will have to get a picture of that one sorry. Anyway, how could I say no? We have already had fun playing catch. (which we really should video because one day she's going to put one off my noggin, or worse, Two's not a bad number). Anyway, it had snowed the night before and the highway was wet but it was still below zero. When I got home this is what the car looked like.

All that mess is all ice that froze in place. I thought it was pretty cool.

The other part of this post is about my poor wife. On Saturday she was getting out of the car and accidentally slammed her thumb in the car door. It instantly turned blue on the nail and on the other side. It was very VERY painful (so I'm told, and it's not a good idea to laugh or make thumb's up jokes in her presence, trust me). She couldn't sleep all night and had it on ice for about 48 hours after. The next morning we went to church and a couple of friends who are nurses helped her poke through the nail at church. They ended up using a paper clip and a BBQ lighter. It took 45 minutes because she has such thick nails. Poor girl. She is feeling much better now that the swelling has gone down (but she still hits at thumbs up jokes).

The Owl

2008-03-19T22:04:00.004-06:00

Tim here, Yesterday the coolest thing happened. Well maybe not the coolest thing since that's relatively relative, but cool just the same. I was driving into the driveway with a friend and I saw a bird fly up into our eve and then back down to the ground. I couldn't figure out what it was until we got a little closer and I saw it fly up and land in the eve. It was an owl! I got out and my friend and I walked up to take a closer look. I thought it would fly away but it just sat there looking at us. We were only about 10 feet away. I ran inside and told Anna, she got me the camera but I thought it would have flown away by the time I got back. Nope, it flew down into the middle of our deck and just sat there. I started snapping pic's and walked closer. Again I got about 10 feet away and then it flew up into a tree. I got a few more pic's and we went inside. How many times do you get to see that? God definitely makes some cool creatures. Watching that little owl look at me and then turn it's head all the way around was pretty neat. Thanks God for this experience.

Tim

happy birthday dad

2008-03-12T13:50:00.006-06:00

This one is for the Dad's. Tim's Dad and my Dad share the same birthday. It's really quite handy for remembering!

So what are the Dad's doing on their big day?

Well since Opa is the oldest, we'll start with him. Nadia and I have bugged Opa several time this morning. Nadia hardly said a word...I think Opa was telling Nadia about the bird feeder he's putting up just so we can see squirrels during our visit to their house in a few weeks. Opa found the perfect spot to put the feeder.

But what is on this Birthday boys agenda for today? Moving stuff. He's moving soil and gravel and whatnot around. No breaks for this hard working guy. Even though he's now officially a senior! Are you over the hill yet Dad? Hope you enjoy the dinosaur eggs Oma got you!

And what is Grandpa doing?

From the photo he sent this morning it looks like not too much. Grandpa said that Grandma keeps hauling him outside to see the progress on the new building project at the church. (You can check it out for yourself http://www.mbcevents.blogspot.com/) But, from what I know of Grandpa, it wouldn't take much convincing to get him out of his office. And this birthday guy is coming to our neck of the woods, just to see Colin crawl on his birthday! See you soon. Any guess about Grandpa's age?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOU 2!

peeping ....... Tom?

2008-03-11T15:43:00.004-06:00

I am most excited to report that the snow is dribbling away at a rather quick pace. It makes me excited for summer and it also makes me think about a Dr. Seuss interpretation of the rain, "dibble dibble dopp, dibble dibble, dopp dopp dopp!"

So I had extra energy to clean my kitchen today and what did I see out my kitchen widow. This peeping...Tom! At least that's what I'm calling him. Apparently, our house came with a little gnome in the plant barrel. How sad. The previous owners must miss him! Or maybe not, and that's why he is always staring at me.

I am very perplexed by this figure. In some ways I just love him. He's little and has such a personality. But, I also hate him. He is rather peculiar. The same express on his little quirky face all day long, every time I look out the window. And the peeking out from behind the snow is a little unnerving. What's he hiding back there?

Maybe the CLR and hand cleaning the stains off the cutlery is really getting to me. Maybe I should go lay down.

long distance guests

2008-03-08T15:37:00.006-06:00

Yesterday, Karen & Juanita came to visit and it was a great time. I thought they were a little more on my time...a little late for everything! But no, they got here while I was in the middle of cleaning the house. Dirty house aside, we had a really fun time hanging out and catching up. And hey girls, thanks for the paint colour suggestions! I can't wait to see the Langelaar house when it's done. Oh I hope you have a girl...they are just too much fun!

Colin and Kaleb playing.

Colin especially loved Owen because he crawls too. He tried to chase him all over. But Owen was way too fast.

Karen you're doing a fantastic job with Owen, he was such an obedient little man. And Juanita, way to go with Kaleb, I can't believe he napped so soundly in our spare room, noise and all! Thanks for sharing your little cuties with us.

mobility

2008-03-08T14:48:00.008-06:00

Nadia crawled on her 8 month "birthday" and Colin is following suit. He took his first crawling adventure at 8 months and 1 day! Nadia was bathing and he was playing with toys on the floor. He really wanted to see the furnace vent on the floor so he crawled over there. Of course I pulled him away and made him try again just to see him crawl! I think babies crawling is so cute....especially those first steps when every move is so thought out.

The next day while getting our boots and jackets off in Tim's office, Colin started crawling toward the door to the hallway. Nadia ran over and held onto his arm. I told her she could let him crawl because he wasn't very fast yet, but she insisted that he would run away and get lost if she let go. What a thoughtful big sister.

But now it's been almost a week and he is getting faster and more sure about reaching up. Numerous times he's dumped Nadia basket of musical instruments on his head, and my books on the bottom shelf are no longer safe. Go, Colin Go!

Here he's practicing his 4x4ing...crawling on his hands and feet. (Lisa, see the new chair! :)

Colin is also making faces when he eats. Not because it's sour or sweet, just because! But I can never really capture it on camera. So here is the end of a funny, squinty face.

Always distracted when eating!

Crazy Daddy

2008-03-04T16:37:00.010-06:00

Nadia just turned 3 and she has never had a bed. We've always just put her mattress on the floor...until we saw a cutie bed frame at JYSK. (PS. Do you say YSK or JYSK?) So Daddy went out to run errands and picked it up. Along with a matching dresser, or side table, AND a little chair. (Chair pictures to come.) Tim put them all together while Nadia slept, and when she woke up and saw them she was absolutely beside herself. "For me" she shrieked with joy!

As a bonus, she loves her bed so much that she no longer gets up in the middle of the night to crawl into bed with us! Oh, a full night sleep is sooo nice.
I plugged in her ladybug night light, and had to slide under the bed to get to the plug. Nadia thought that was the funniest thing and had to try it out. She can actually roll under from one edge to the other.
In the store, the bed frame we looked at had a Dora blanket, of course sold separately. And although I thought I had explained this she was a little sad when Dora wasn't part of her new bed. But then she found Bob and put him on top. Now we have 6 layers on her mattress. Do you know how long it takes to change the sheets?
Crazy Tim also bought me this amazing orchid. It is nearly 3 feet tall and bursting with blooms. They are suppose to last 8-10 months. I love it soooo much. God has such an imagination, it's breath taking.

little girl crazyness

2008-02-25T20:47:00.012-06:00

Daddy & Steve must have blown up 50 balloons for Nadia's little girl birthday party. They were a huge hit! We had kind of a mosh pit of balloons between the sofas and all the girls had a screaming fun time.
As the girls arrived, 6 including Nadia, we played with the balloons and listened to crazy music. Then we played some hide and seek. Some of the girls had a rather short attention span. The finder would get side tracked and leave a few girls hiding while they ran a muck! So we tried a craft to settle everyone down. We made a purple and pink ladybug. Nadia wasn't into having her picture taken.
Ah the silence of little girls stickering. It is quite something to watch....just how fast little girls can stick!
I now know why people buy birthday cakes! This was my first ever fancy cake and it was hard. I thought we could just whip it up and quickly do the icing....boy, was I wrong. It took forever to get the icing made and done. Not to mention I was sidetracked by a 3 year old.
Daddy joined in on the tiara wearing fun. And Madison thought that was just hilarious. I thought she was going to explode, she was laughing so hard.

Colin went for a nap shortly after the party started and slept for most of it. By the time he woke up, the girls were having sugar rush and running around with balloons. It was loud and he was freaking out. Poor little dude was so scared. But Daddy calmed him down.

At the end of the party, Nadia handed out little gift bags to her guests and she got to have one. She helped me put them together in the morning, so she knew exactly what was in there. After everyone was gone she dumped out her gift bag and very emphatically said, "What! That's it!" Both Tim and I burst out laughing! It was just so off-the-cuff.

At the end of the day, after Nadia was in bed, I sat down to download the photos and I put Colin on the floor to play. I thought for sure it would only last a moment and then he would be upset. But, he sat there and played with that yellow bus for about half an hour. Way to go little man!

Three

2008-02-22T15:19:00.013-06:00

On Wednesday, February 20th was Nadia's 3rd Birthday. We went to Martensville to celebrate with Grandpa & Grandma. In the morning Grandpa & Nadia hung out, he was the only one up when Nadia decided she was done sleeping. They watched shows, which Nadia loves. Then we got ourselves together and headed for the city. Of course the first few stops were not for Nadia, but the kiddos had fun riding in the cart and looking at stuff. Home Depot has become a regular stop whenever we visit Saskatoon. I guess owning a home begs for it.

But then we made it to Nadia's 1 requested place.....Starbucks! Do you think her daddy's coffee and goodie addiction has affected her at all. Is our daughter a yuppy? Anyway, we had a lovely lunch, Nadia had fries and ketchup (and chicken strips, but those are just fillers to her). And back to Grandpa & Grandma's house to open gifts. Nadia is modeling a sweater from Opa & Oma. She wore it all afternoon. And she would have worn it all day, but we didn't want to get cake on it. Colin can get up on all 4's and rock until he feels the urge to dive. He loves to get around like this and he's getting really fast.
This is an antique stained glass ladybug lamp from Oma. She always finds the most unique gifts. Nadia especially loves to have lamp raves with it...on & off, on & off.....
DVD's were a huge hit. She had to explain to Grandma what it was all about...even though she's never seen it before!
We went out for lunch yesterday and she wore her new tiara. She was so cute, and full of sparkles.
This is the first year Nadia enjoyed eating her birthday cake. At 1 she touched the icing and was weirded out. At 2 she didn't want to eat the ladybug cake Grandpa made...and it was soooo cool! But this year Nadia dove right into the yummy cake Grandma made.

I told Grandma I was making a chocolate cake for Nadia, so she made an angel cake, as Nadia calls it. Tomorrow is Nadia's little girl party and she has now informed me that she doesn't want chocolate, she wants angel cake. Well, here I go to do some convincing.

signs & wonders

2008-02-22T15:04:00.005-06:00

This afternoon Tim & Nadia were playing a board game, waiting for lunch, and Tim says, "Wow, a squirrel!" And since we're all still in bleak, cold winter mode, it caught us all off guard. So here it is...a squirrel on our 5 foot pile of snow. Could it be a sign of spring? I sure have to wonder!

little mommy

2008-02-21T22:04:00.004-06:00

This puppy was a gift from Grandma, from a shopping trip to the mall. And Nadia is in love with her lately. I'm so proud that she actually named one of her teddy's. She is called Snuffy Snuffy. And today Snuffy Snuffy was her baby. She put her into Colin's highchair and put a bib on her and buckled her in. Then she asked for some food and a spoon. I had to convince her to pretend about the food. After that she took Snuffy Snuffy out and gave her a bottle. She is so particular about doing everything just like mommy. If she was only bigger, she could feed Colin....and even change his diaper. But I guess her technique does need a little work.

PS. Birthday blogs are coming....but hey, I have to pace myself! :)

crazy sillyness

2008-02-21T15:55:00.010-06:00

Colin was wrestling with Nadia. He thought it was funny and she was crying!

Peeking around the corner at Daddy.

Crazy faces

Nadia is finally wearing hair ties. At least for a little bit of time.

Colin having a blast on the piano.

Nadia wanted to change her baby's' diaper. She would put on a diaper, then put her to bed. Then announce that she needed a change, and she would. Then to bed. She must have gone through 12 diapers.

Dedication

2008-02-21T15:35:00.005-06:00

There are 4 babies in our church that are only a few months apart in age. And before Christmas they were all dedicated, accept Colin. It's not that we didn't want to, it's just that Grandpa and Grandma couldn't make the date. You know those type...always gallivanting around the country. So finally, we found a date that worked. We all went up on stage and everyone was happy. Can you believe it! No screaming or otherwise. I'm so proud of my family! And Pastor Daddy did a great job. Thanks honey!

Randoms

2008-02-08T18:31:00.001-06:00

Tim, exhausted, after the final sand on Colin's room. We drywalled his room and now we just have 1/2 a coat of paint to finish and carpet laying. Photos to come.

Colin in action. If he's not jumping, he's eating the jumper while playing in his exosaucer.

Nadia showing off the heart puncher. It's not a toy already!

Now my punch is a camera...smile!

Colin is 7 months old and rolling all over the floor, sitting and getting up on all 4's. He actually trying to crawl. But it's more like face planting.

These 2 already play together and love spending time together. Praise God!

Grandma's visit

2008-02-07T14:19:00.001-06:00

It was so cool that Grandma came to spend the whole day to play with Nadia. She loved it. She pretty much told Grandma what they were going to do, all day long. And Grandma obeyed.

Watching a movie. Nadia was annoyed that I was interrupting.

Colin just doing his thing...threatening a baby!

Multiple trips around the house with the stroller. I think Colin enjoyed it more than Nadia.

side by side

2008-01-12T17:07:00.000-06:00

Here are some photos of our kiddos at the same age doing the same things. Everyone says they looks so similar. What do you think? (Nadia is first, Colin is below)

Mosh Pit

2008-01-06T21:07:00.001-06:00

4 days before New Year's Eve we decided to have a New Years party. So we stocked up with imported Saskatoon Costco hors d'œuvre and started calling people 2 days before. We ended up having 7 families all together. That doesn't sound like many people until I tell you....there were 14 adults and 21 kids, all under the age of 10! It was sheer chaos. The kids ran up and down and all around. Our house is perfect for parties and hide and seek. So we had a ton of fun and we all survived with out injury. OH, accept our house had a minor injury. At one point Jordan came up to me and said, "Excuse me, this came off." It was a ceiling tile! It was ready to come off anyway, but I thought it was humorous...me standing there with a ceiling tile in my hand saying, "thanks".

Our police officer friend had all the kids doing sit-ups and push-ups at one point! And Tim thought, "This guy is good!"

Christmas #2

2008-01-04T21:15:00.001-06:00

Do you think Grandpa & Grandma and Auntie Lisa had fun Christmas shopping? Well we sure had a lot of gifts to open. Thanks to everyone, they were all so perfect.
Here's Nadia opening the third My Little Pony! And Grandpa and Grandma's reactions are priceless. Of course Nadia thought that was too cool. Amazingly she now has 5 and no duplicates.
Colin sporting a new touque, eating a new toy and wearing all new clothes. (We don't normally use pink blankets for Colin, I just happened to grab a pink one at Grandma's)
Colin's new train. It holds blocks that move up and down, turn and slide and the whole thing has lights and moves. He was completely mesmerized.
We caught Nadia's reaction when she realized what this gigantic gift was. Grandpa & Grandma got this one. And boy were they surprised when we opened it up and it was in no less than 1 million pieces with about twice as many screws! Grandpa spent about 1 1/2 hours assembling it, while Nadia napped.

Baking with Daddy.It was a lot of work setting up that kitchen! Thanks Grandpa! Not only does Nadia love it, so does every other girl that comes over.

And the gloves.

The weather was so warm. Perfect for playing in the snow.

Nadia is getting very good at tromping through the snow and falling into it. She especially loves to roll in it.
Enjoying the jumper. Nadia used the same jumper in the same spot at the same age. Kinda weird.

Drumming with Daddy.

When we got home from Grandpa & Grandma's, I asked Nadia if we should take the Christmas tree down soon. So she asked why? I said, because Christmas is over. So I turned around to find Tim to ask him when he wanted to take it down and then I heard ripping. Nadia was already taking ornaments off. I told her we have to ask Daddy first. Then enters Daddy. And Nadia promptly announces that we're taking the Christmas tree down because Christmas is over! Okay. I guess I'd better supervise this.

Christmas #1

2008-01-03T18:55:00.000-06:00

Nadia choose to open this package first. She must have instinctively known it would be a really good one. Nadia loves this tea set. She wants to play tea party all the time. And it was really funny when she told Grandpa not to touch the plate on top of his cup because the tea was steeping.

Lovely flying ladybug

New books from Great Grandpa & Grandma. We're learning lots.

Colin's present from Daddy. A remote control Z car. This was a huge hit at our New Year's party. More details to come in a later post.

Colin just loves this octopus toy.

Nadia got that hair clip in all by herself.

Excited about a play-doh kitchen.

Colin, just taking it all in.